Whitson Gordon

Windows 8's "Windows Store" is a great idea, but unfortunately, it's a disaster. It's full of scam apps, designed to trick you into buying an app you don't need.

Our friends over at the How-To Geek recently wrote a great piece about the biggest problem with the Windows Store, and how Microsoft has apparently done nothing to address it (despite claiming they would over a year ago). For example, here's what happens if you search for VLC, a popular free video player:

From the screenshot above, you'd be forgiven for thinking there are a lot of official VLC apps. There aren't — many apps are just copying VLC's trademark icon to make themselves look legitimate.

Luckily, VLC actually offers an official app for Windows 8, so "VLC for Windows 8″ is the first app in the list. In addition to various apps pretending to be VLC itself, there are paid apps offering a "VLC download." These apps exist to trick you into buying them — after you do, they give you a link to download the free VLC application. Hopefully they'll link you to the real one and not one filled with malware!

Included in the list is "VLC Player Download" for $4.99. Its description says "this app helps the users to know how to download install and why it is." If that's too expensive for you, you can also get "Download Vlc Player" for $1.99 or "download vlc media player" for $1.29.

We aren't digging deep into the Store looking for this stuff. It's what pops up on the first page when we search for a popular app.

Of course, some of you more tech-savvy folks may be able to see through this charade, but it doesn't make it any less annoying—and it's a serious problem for those that may not be so savvy.

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So what's the solution? Unfortunately, there isn't a great workaround here. But, here are a few things we recommend:

If you're downloading a desktop app, you're probably better off getting it from the developer's web site than searching in the Windows Store.

If you're downloading a "Modern UI" app, try checking the developer's web site for a link—or even trusted software sites like Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and others. You can trust they'll link you to the correct app in the store, no searching necessary.

If you must search the Windows Store, check the publisher of the app and make sure it matches the publisher of the app you want to download.

None of these are foolproof, and it's absurd that Microsoft hasn't fixed this problem—particularly when Apple and Google have shown that it's easily doable. Hit the link below to read more.

Update: Microsoft has made an official statement on the matter. Here's the important part:

Earlier this year we heard loud and clear that people were finding it more difficult to find the apps they were searching for; often having to sort through lists of apps with confusing or misleading titles. We took the feedback seriously and modified the Windows Store app certification requirements as a first step toward better ensuring that apps are named and described in a way that doesn't misrepresent their purpose. These changes included:

Naming – to clearly and accurately reflect the functionality of the app.

Categories – to ensure apps are categorized according to the app function and purpose.

Icons – must be differentiated to avoid being mistaken with others.

These revised policies are being applied to all new app submissions and existing app updates for both the Windows and Windows Phone Store. We've also been working on titles already in the catalog, conducting a review of Windows Store to identify titles that do not comply with our modified certification requirements. This process is continuing as we work to be as thorough and transparent as possible in our review. Most of the developers behind apps that are found to violate our policies have good intentions and agree to make the necessary changes when notified. Others have been less receptive, causing us to remove more than 1,500 apps as part of this review so far (as always we will gladly refund the cost of an app that is downloaded as a result of an erroneous title or description).